Do you remember the “future dream” you envisioned as a child? I don’t remember much, but in my elementary school graduation album, I wrote “Mr. Interpreter”. And it seems that there were many people in the same class who wanted to become “an interpreter. At that time, I didn’t have much opportunity to think about what kind of profession there was in the world, and perhaps it was the sight of interpreters communicating in English that I saw on TV that made me yearn to be one. Now I live in the countryside, far from the city, and work full remote as a web developer. This is a way of working that I could never have imagined when I was a child. Given this, it may be difficult to imagine what kind of “way of working” children will have when they become adults. However, I hope they will be able to work flexibly and enjoy their work no matter what their circumstances are. I would like to think about what I can do and what I can tell them in order to achieve this.
Image by Adobe Firefly
Children’s Dreams for the Future
My second daughter, a junior high school student, had the opportunity to do “work experience” as part of a school initiative, and she was able to experience working as a nursery teacher at the daycare center she attended. My second daughter went to a nursery school, but she was also allowed to go to a pharmacy, animal hospital, cake shop, library, construction company, restaurant, supermarket, etc., to experience work at various places of her choice. I think it was a valuable experience for her to be able to learn even a small part of what the people she meets in her daily life do as a profession. At the moment, my second daughter’s dream for the future is to become a nursery school teacher or a caregiver.
My eldest daughter loves to make sweets. When she was little, she would make them with me while looking at recipe websites, and from about the 3rd or 4th grade of elementary school, she started making them on her own. Now that she is in high school, she still makes them whenever she has time and says she wants to be a pastry chef. And my third daughter once asked me, “Is your job a web designer, Mom?” The other day, she brought home a piece of writing for her elementary school graduation book that she needed to have checked by someone at home. I hope to convey to them that there are many more options and that there may be even more professions for which they are suited or would like to pursue.
Influence of parents
It seems like my parents didn’t have much influence on the career I wanted to be in, but what about you guys? I was curious so I asked everyone at mgn!
Aさん
The career I wanted to become was working at an airport, and I was impressed by the fact that I went to the airport to see my father off on an overseas business trip.
Bさん
I wanted to work for the teachers at the cram school that took care of me when I was in junior high school. My parents are just amazing people who make me think, “I could never be like them. I look up to them.
Cさん
I wanted to be a cartoonist, and I didn’t want as ordinary a job as possible. My parents worked diligently, for better or worse. As a child, I felt a little lonely.
Dさん
As a child, I was a ballerina, and gradually I wanted to be an artist, a chef, and a baker. Under the influence of her father, she fell in love with drawing, and she developed a love of baking as a result of cooking with her mother.
Eさん
In elementary school I wanted to be a pianist and a cartoonist, and in high school and college I wanted to be a UN official. I think I was influenced by my parents’ interest in music, conversations at home, and my interest in other countries as a result of my mother’s passionate teaching of English.
Fさん
When I was a child, I worked in bakeries and cake shops, and when I became a TV kid, I worked in jobs related to program production. I wanted to work in a job making or selling something I was interested in at that time. My parents worked for a company and my grandfather was self-employed, so I knew somewhat about the hardships of both.
It seems that there are still those who imagined the career they would like to do because of their parents’ occupation, words and deeds. Even if they were not directly influenced by their parents, we feel that their interests and sentiments may have been influenced by their parents. Once they enter the workforce, they will have more opportunities to meet and interact with people from various occupations, but until then, they will have to broaden their interests through career education at school and what they see and hear at home. Nowadays, we can find out almost anything by searching, but I think it is important to intentionally create opportunities for people to become interested in something.
What I can tell my children
We looked into what kind of “career education” the schools are implementing…
The four abilities are: “ability to form human relations and social formation,” “self-understanding and self-management,” “ability to deal with problems,” and “career planning ability.” It is desirable to set specific abilities based on each issue with reference to these four abilities, and to achieve them through creative education.
It is important to know and experience what kind of work styles are currently available, but I hope that we can nurture a kind of “zest for life” that can be adapted to any kind of work style.
When we asked mgn members who have children what they have talked about or told them about their dreams for the future and what they want to do, we received the following responses.
Aさん
Even if it’s a job that’s not major right now, like, “How am I going to make a living doing that,” you never know where it’s going to be in 10 years.
Cさん
Do as much as you want, no matter how much you fall short.
As a parent, I felt their desire for me to “do what I want to do”.
I would like to show them the importance of thinking ahead and connecting with others while they are still young, as well as enjoying the “work” that I spend so much of my time doing.
